Jennings v. Nash
| Decision Date | 15 January 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 6:18-cv-03261-NKL |
| Parties | BRAD JENNINGS, Plaintiff, v. DANIEL F. NASH, JAMES MICHAEL RACKLEY DALLAS COUNTY, MISSOURI, GEORGE KNOWLES, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri |
Before the Court are three motions for summary judgment by Defendant Daniel F. Nash, Doc. 153, Defendant George Knowles, Doc. 148, and Defendants Dallas County and James Rackley, Doc. 150. For the reasons discussed below, the motions for summary judgment by Defendants Knowles, Rackley, and Dallas County are granted. Defendant Nash's motion for summary judgment is denied as to Count I, but granted on Counts II, III, VI, and VII.
This case arose out of the 2006 death of Lisa Jennings, the wife of Plaintiff Brad Jennings. After a joint investigation by Dallas County Sheriff's Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol, Brad Jennings was convicted of Lisa's murder and was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. In 2018, the Circuit Court of Texas County, Missouri, vacated Jennings' convictions due to a Brady violation. Jennings subsequently filed this lawsuit alleging Defendant law enforcement officers Nash, Knowles, and Rackley, as well as Dallas County, violated his constitutional rights during the investigation of his wife's death and his subsequent prosecution. Specifically, Jennings alleges the following causes of action:
All Defendants now seek summary judgment as to each claim against them.
On December 25, 2006, Dallas County Sheriff's Department responded to a call that Lisa Jennings had died of a gunshot wound to the head. Lisa Jennings' husband, Brad Jennings ("Jennings" or "Brad"), informed officers that he had been out working in his garage, and upon returning to the house, he found his wife in their closet with a gunshot wound. Doc. 151-2 (), AGO000213-17. Upon finding her, Jennings held her in his arms prior to calling the authorities. Id. Dallas County officers, including Sheriff Michael Rackley and Deputy Scott Rice, collected evidence, took photos, and spoke to witnesses at the scene, Doc. 151-8 (), p. 240, as well as performed a gunshot residue (GSR) test on both Lisa Jennings' and Brad Jennings' hands, Doc. 151-2, AGO000213-17. Lisa's hand tested positive for GSR, but Brad's hands tested negative for GSR. Id. Anautopsy concluded that the cause of death was a contact gunshot wound to the head and that Lisa Jennings was intoxicated at the time of her death. Doc. 151-2, AGO0000289. Dallas County officials, including Rackley, Rice, the local prosecutor, and the coroner, all determined that Lisa Jennings had committed suicide. Doc. 151-8, p. 257. Her death certificate listed "suicide" and "self inflicted gunshot wound to the head" as the cause of death and noted that she had elevated blood alcohol levels. Doc. 151-3 (Lisa Jennings death certificate).
On January 9, 2007, Lisa Jennings' sister visited the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP), where she spoke to Dan Nash, a Sergeant in the MSHP Division of Drug and Crime Control. Doc. 151-2, AGO000218. Lisa's sister expressed doubts that the cause of Lisa's death was suicide and requested that MSHP continue the investigation into Lisa's death. Id. Nash contacted Rackley and requested to review the case, though the two did not know each other and had not previously worked together. Doc. 151-5 (Rackley 2019 deposition), p. 44. Rackley agreed and provided Nash with the Dallas County Sheriff's Department's reports and crime scene photos from the Lisa Jennings investigation. Doc. 151-7 (), p. 548. Among other bloodstain patterns, the crime scene photos depicted a single drop of blood on Lisa Jennings' dominant hand. Id. at 575. Nash determined that the single drop of blood was inconsistent with suicide, because the gunshot wound should have caused a significant amount of blood impact stain on her hand and arm rather than a single drop. Id. At the time, Nash had not taken a basic bloodstain pattern analysis course. Doc. 158-24 (Nash 2008 Certificate of Training for Basic Bloodstain Pattern Analysis). Nash then sought the opinion of MSHP Sergeant Roger Renken, who had more experience with bloodstain pattern analysis, though Renken did not consider himself an expert. Doc. 151-8, p. 229. Renken also determinedthe bloodstain patterns were more consistent with homicide than suicide. Doc. 151-2, AGO0000458-60.
Nash spoke to Rackley about his conclusions, and Nash and Rackley determined that MSHP and Dallas County would re-open the case and begin a joint investigation into the death of Lisa Jennings, with Nash as the lead investigator for MSHP and Rackley as the lead investigator for Dallas County Sheriff's Department. Doc. 151-6 (Nash 2019 deposition), p. 106. MSHP assumed control of all of the physical evidence collected in the case and became the repository for all investigative reports. Doc. 151-8, p. 243. Over the following months, Nash, Rackley, and other officers on the investigative team participated in regular meetings and communicated updates on the investigation. The team conducted interviews with Lisa's friends and family, asking about the state of the Jennings' marriage, the alleged history of abuse, whether Lisa was making plans to move out of the Jennings' home, whether Lisa was suicidal or depressed, and whether Lisa was having an affair. See generally Doc. 151-2.
Around March 15, 2007, Nash created a crime scene reconstruction report, wherein he detailed his basis for determining Lisa Jennings' death was not a suicide but rather a homicide perpetrated by Brad Jennings, including the bloodstain patterns, the history of marital conflict between Lisa and Brad, and the lack of evidence of an intruder. Doc. 154-2 (Crime Scene Reconstruction). The report also included two fillable forms attached as appendices that noted Nash's conclusions as to whether the evidence corresponding to a list of factors was consistent with or inconsistent with suicide, and whether any evidence of homicide was consistent with the husband or an intruder as the perpetrator. Id. Nash determined that only four of the sixteen factors were consistent with suicide, whereas ten of the factors were not consistent with suicide. Id. One of the factors listed as "Not Consistent w/ Suicide" was "Past Suicide attempt." Id.However, Dallas County then-Deputy Scott Rice contends that upon seeing Nash's report during a meeting with Nash and Rackley, he informed both Nash and Rackley that when Rice and Lisa Jennings were teenagers, Lisa had attempted suicide. Doc. 158-30 (Rice 2017 deposition), p. 11. Rackley concedes that Scott Rice informed him that Lisa previously attempted suicide, and he believes Nash knew this fact as well, although Nash disputes having known of the prior attempt. Doc. 151-5, pp. 112-14; Doc. 158-18 (Nash 2017 deposition), p. 35. Nash did not change the designation of "Past Suicide attempt" as "Not Consistent w/ Suicide" on the crime scene reconstruction report. Doc. 154-2.
On March 26, 2007, Nash and Rackley performed a consent search of Jennings' home, seizing the black robe and slippers Jennings wore the night of Lisa's death. Doc. 158-3 (), AGO0000462. Nash and Rackley discussed sending the robe in for forensic testing, and Nash later sent the robe to the MSHP crime lab for blood and GSR testing. Doc. 151-6, p. 108. Lab records indicate that Nash reiterated to the lab over the phone on June 15, 2007, that he wanted GSR testing performed on the items. Doc. 158-16 (), p. 2.
The lab found that the robe tested positive for Lisa Jennings' blood but negative for GSR. Doc. 158-4 (). Although the lab's typical practice was to send by U.S. mail copies of all results to the requesting agency, Doc. 158-19 (), pp. 5-6, lab records indicate that on July 12, 2007, Nash also requested over the phone that all testing reports be faxed to MSHP Troop D headquarters, where Nash was stationed. Doc. 158-15 (). The lab's fax confirmations and case records indicate that lab results were faxed to Troop D on July 12 and July 17, 2007, per Nash's request, and that a phone call took place between Nash and a lab technician on July 17,2007, regarding the faxed reports. Doc. 158-14 (); Doc. 158-16; Doc. 158-17 (). Nash received the positive blood test results but denies ever receiving the negative GSR results. Doc. 158-18, pp. 14-15. While the positive blood testing was later disclosed to the defense and used as a basis for Jennings' arrest and the prosecution's case at trial, the negative GSR results were never provided to the defense or the prosecutor.
On January 9, 2007, Dallas County seized a computer and two hard drives from the Jennings' residence, Doc. 158-3, AGO0000287, and on February 8, 2007, MSHP performed an imaging of the data contained on one of the hard drives, Doc....
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